Going to School
by brire
Summary: Set after LYKY, Cammie just wants a normal year. She never suspected she would end up attending Roseville High, tasked with the mission to identify the CIA-suspected enemy agents. She also doesn't know the Blackthorne boys are stationed to do the exact same thing. What's going on? With normal drama and normal school work, the job is not easy for her... Zammie
1. The News

**I know this story isn't original per say, but this one is mine so give it a read! Do you guys like the Fanfics where the gang goes to normal school? Tell me in the review section. Anyway, I have really big plans for this story, and it will probably be a moderate to long one.**

 **Cammie's POV**

* * *

Oh how beautiful the Gallagher Academy's grounds were.

The break had come and gone, and I had spent it by myself. Well, that's not entirely true, I did have grandpa and grandma Morgan (and the fish I gutted), but that's beside the point.

Even though everything was the same there in Nebraska, it felt lonely and miserable. I couldn't stop thinking about how bad I messed up with Josh- I mean like when Jeff Umbridge tried to break into the Swiss bank with a shoelace bad. And what could I say to excuse myself? I thought it would be a good learning experience to interact with a civilian, therefore when I decided to break out of maximum security it was only in search for knowledge?

I spent hours coming up with that response for my interrogation at the CIA, hoping it would prevent me from getting burned. Little did I know, it was useless! They basically just told me never to see him again- which is like, duh! _I_ already told myself that.

The humiliating interrogation has brought me to the window sill overlooking the front gates. I knew I could wallow in peace here because one can only get to me through the most covert secret passageway in the whole school. I had come here to watch the rest of the school arrive, which I very much wanted. I don't think I could take another moment alone, I have to have some distraction from myself (and the cute boy who still made me cringe at my past self).

Limousines pulled up along the drive. Even though it was forty feet below and half a mile away, I could tell who was who when the girls climbed out. By the height and the way they carried themselves, I recognized the first arrivers as the over-eager eighth graders. Typical of them to show up first.

I must have waited an hour (and three and a half minutes) before I spotted Macey McHenry at the front doors.

"Finally!" I jump from the spot where I was hunched over and nearly fall over. Not only did the blood rush from my head, but my frozen legs refused to work with the rest of me.

Powering through the ache in my legs and the spots in my eyes, I exited the passageway as quick as I could manage. Running through the foyer, interweaving through dozens of suitcases and girls, I reach Macey.

"I'm assuming three suitcases wasn't enough for the break?" I grin at her as she spins towards me. She kicks a Louis Vuitton out of her way and embraces me in a tight hug.

"Oh, Cammie dear," She holds me out at arm's length. "These just hold the new clothes you'll be wearing when you meet your new boy toy- You're welcome!"

I shake my head and laugh at her. Me wearing Macey's clothes is scary. Me getting involved with a different boy is deadly.

"Macey!" I chide jokingly. "I guess the clothes will go to waste, no way am I ever seeing a boy again when I go to this school!"

"Never say never, Cam," She heaves a duffle bag into my arms. "Now help me carry your new wardrobe to the suite."

I really hope she was kidding about putting me in her outfits. Every season some designer releases a new line skimpier than the last. Even if I only wear her clothes on town days, the weather is getting warmer and I can only imagine how revealing they will be.

I guesstimate her bags weigh two whole Liz's, but it felt like three going up the Grand Staircase. I'm a strong person too, but I cannot describe the relief I felt when I chucked them into our room.

What wasn't a relief being the sound of a hard thud and an "Oopsy Daisy!".

"Liz, merde!" Macey rushes to help the collapsed girl. I follow second just as swiftly.

"Liz! I swear I didn't see you, I would never do that on purpose!" I beg for her forgiveness. Out of of all the spies i could have hit, I hit the most fragile!

Together, Macey and I were able to get two bags off her, Liz rolled out from under the other.

"Oh, I know Cammie," She smiles and gets up. "Hey, if it were me carrying those bags I probably would have done the same thing- that is if I were able to lift one!"

We all laugh at that, she's probably right. The three of us hug like we haven't seen each other in ages. It truly was nice being home again.

"You take a trip across the pond and it's like you don't exist anymore!" A familiar British accents scolds.

"Bex!" I let go of the others to smother the girl with the crossed arms.

"Don't pretend we don't love you as much as Macey loves Channel no. 5," Liz chirps and worms her way in.

"She's right," Macey adds her self in.

Our group hug had just moved five feet and added another person, I muse.

"It's so good to see you all!" Bex squeezes a little too tight and I know Liz can't breathe.

Breaking away, we start to unpack and talk about the break. Two hours and twenty-seven minutes passed effortlessly, and then the subject I had so managed to gracefully avoid was brought up.

"So, Chameleon," Bex pauses for dramatic effect. "What trouble are we getting into this semester?"

"If Cam is a smart as her I.Q. of 140 states- None!" Liz reminds. I pray that she is right. If I just stay here and do my work like a normal spy-in-training, everything I do should be drama free, but no guarantee that I won't do _something_ illegal.

"Sounds good to me," I agree.

"Sounds boring if you ask me," Macey is already filing her nails on her bed. I see Bex shrug where she sits.

"You know what isn't boring?" I ask them all with my hands on my hips.

I see them all arch an eyebrow and eye each other skeptically.

"What?" Liz seems genuinely interested in learning something new.

"The crème brûlée Chef Liou serves," I spin on my heel and start to head to the opening dinner. God, I missed crème brûlée.

At some point, my friends catch up with me, and we make our way side-by-side into the Grand Hall, saying or hello's to the girls in our grade as we pass.

We have to wait two minutes for my mom's speech as we sit in our usual spots at our table. This turns out to be more than enough time for Tina to plant herself down to ring me dry of intel.

"So, Cammie," She leans in as if this is serious business. "Is it true you are planning to go to Roseville High in an attempt to win back Josh's love?"

My friends cringe at her assumption.

"First of all, Tina, no one said anything about love," I hold up a finger. "And two, I have no intention of ever going to a regular high school, especially if it's just for a boy."

She seems satisfied as she moves on to the next girl and askes another question she can't possibly believe to be true, "So, Mick, is it true you were on the front lines of the infiltration team tasked to invade a Suadi palace?"

"I have to admit, rumors hear are far more entertaining than rumors at an _actual_ preppy boarding school," Macey doesn't look up from her nails.

My mom reaches the podium and we all stand to say the Gallagher motto. Every time the hundreds of girls that go here say our promise together I get chills.

"Young women, I wish I could stand up here and tell you that you all will have a wonderful semester at this school, but I cannot," She says solemnly. My mind races through what seems like a thousand possible scenarios of what could be wrong. The teachers all appeared calm and collected so it couldn't be that bad- right?

"The CIA has been given a tip that enemy agents have set up at Roseville High," My mother explains. "We have reason to believe they are of the same age as all of you, therefore we have decided to send a number of you to the school, undercover as normal students, to identify the opposition and report their motives before any harm is done."

Out of all the possibilities that I came up with in my head, that was _definitely_ not one of them. I have to be safe from going though. The CIA specifically forbade me from ever seeing Josh again (I have the restraining order to prove it!). So, who would be going?

"Tomorrow, ten of you will be attending the public high school, and effectively take part on the mission. This is serious, girls," She manages to make eye contact with everyone, or at least it seems that way.

I see Tina bouncing in her seat, no doubt this news was more than she had ever hoped for.

"If you are selected to go, you will be away until the mission is complete, so be swift. Let's move along, the sophomores going will be Macey McHenry, Elizabeth Sutton, Cameron Morgan, Rebecca Baxter, Eva Alvarez, and Tina Walter," She reads off a list, I think she lists more names, but my ears are ringing to loud to hear.

No, this can't possibly be happening. I gave an oath to not see Josh again. What do they expect will happen if they force me to go to his school? What if I get paired up with him to do a project? I have come to the conclusion that everything about this is an awful mess.

Mom must have finished because Tina snaps her fingers in front of my face to wake me out of my daze.

"Still not going to try to get lover boy's attention?" Tina inquires tauntingly, a notepad in hand. I feel like I want to throw up.

Macey drops her nail file for the first time this evening and gasps, "I should have brought more clothes!"

After tonight's announcement, crème brûlée does sound dull.

* * *

 **You like? Stories where they go to normal school can be tricky so I want to make sure I do it justice. Leave a review to tell me what you want to see or what you didn't like! That's all for now, but you guys know I spitfire updates (like I did with my other two stories, one of which i posted today) so I won't be gone for long. Plus total zammie later on- Brire**


	2. Deep Undercover

**Shout outs:**

 **bad-girl-always-bad: so glad you like the story!**

 **Guest123: Zach will totally get jealous later on, but for right now it's all about the build up!**

 **The more reviews, the easier it is for me to update (and quicker)! So keep the input coming. For now, happy reading!**

* * *

Dinner was a daze; my friends and I didn't dare hypothesize how the operation would work until we got to our room. We had a silent agreement to eat as fast as we could without throwing up so we could leave as soon as possible.

"How are we going to pull this off?" Liz searches for answers. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't see any other option than using us, but…"

I push the door open, "It will be hard, but I'm sure my mom knows what she's doing."

"I think we're about to find out," Macey waves a hand at the folders on each of our beds. Excitedly, we ravage through the material.

Opening the classified folder that was specifically for my eyes only, I see my cover, backstory, and the breakdown of the espionage I would be taking part in. My cover identity isn't far off from the one I made myself last year. I still had the same name and the same imaginary cat. Apparently, my family thought I was out of touch with my peers, so they are enrolling me in public school instead of keeping me home schooled. Being that I already have an established presence in Roseville, the CIA wasn't given a lot of wiggle room with my cover; things had to add up, you know?

"Ah, perfect," Macey rolls her eyes. "Years of campaign trails have prepared me for my first mission: Being a spoiled brat who got kicked out of boarding school and was punished to attend regular school!"

"No name change I'm guessing?" Bex presumes, not looking up from what she was reading, clearly, she was fascinated.

"Nope, I'm too infamous to be a different person."

"Well, I'm Liz Stanton, moving to Roseville because of my dad's job relocation," Liz reads straight off her file.

"And call me Bex Brown: the reason why Macey got kicked out," Bex boasts. "Who knew we we're so bad at chemistry!"

"Ya' gotta have a partner in crime, am I right?" Macey giggles and falls on her bed.

A little part of me is jealous of the person that comes up with cover stories. Why can't I have that easy life? Instead I get to go into the field.

"I'm the same girl Roseville knows," I shrug. I guess I really did have the relaxed job of coming up with cover stories. I flip over to the next page for the breakdown.

"So, we get to sleep in the comfort of our walls, and eat breakfast and dinner here, _but_ ," Macey almost gags. "We have to leave by eight to go to grimy Roseville High. Do you know how early we will have to wake up for me to make you all look presentable?"

Too early, I think. The papers specify that we have to leave at separate times and in separate cars as to not look conspicuous. Honestly, I appreciate the CIA for being so thorough, but really, nobody will think anything of the new girls as long as we say we didn't come from the snobby rich school down the block (or say we tried to sabotaged it in Macey and Bexs' case).

"Geez, overkill much?" Bex rolls her eyes and continues reading. "At least we get to ride together, Macey, my parents don't want to deal with such a disgrace, so I'm staying with you in a "newly bought house" until further notice."

"This sounds like a great learning experience," Liz's eyes are wide, she already finished reading her guide. "Not only will we being doing regular school work for seven hours, but we get to come back here after school and do our Gallagher classwork to stay on track with our real studies!"

She cannot be serious. We all gap at Liz, no way does she take delight in our overload. I heard regular teens went insane from the amount of work they had to do, and now we're going to have double.

"What?" She shrinks insecurely. "It was in the footnote."

"We will deal with that later. Let's start laying out tomorrow's clothes so we won't be overly rushed in the morning," Macey heads to her closet. And here I was thinking that school work would be the worst part of the exchange.

"You go do that, Macey," Bex lays out on her bed with her arms crossed behind her head. "You clearly don't need us for that."

"Hey, Cammie," Liz fidgets uncomfortably. "What's your plan when you see josh?"

"That's the thing, my plan is to avoid him," I stare at the wall behind her. "And the CIA gives me their full support on that."

Macey peaks her head out of the closet, she has an arm full of clothes put together already.

"Let me shed some light on you. You are in the same grade as him, and in this small town, you are for sure going to have classes with him," Macey drops the clothes by her feet. "There's no way you can manage to allude him."

"You have a ninety percent chance of having a class with him, it's a small town, the math is all too easy," Liz warns.

"She's right," Bex nods at the ceiling then turns on her side to face me. "The real problem is how you're going to react around him, which shouldn't be a problem if you're over him."

Am I over him though? As much as I tell myself I should be, it's not possible at the moment. Josh was my first boyfriend, my first kiss, I can't let that go so easily.

"It's okay if you're not over him, Cam," Liz soothes. "We'll help you."

Leave it to Liz to make everything right. But kind words aren't enough this time.

"Thanks for being with me guys," I smile a small sad smile. "But starting tomorrow, we won't know each other."

Bex jumps off her bed, completely displeased with the truth. She bends down in front of the pile of clothes and sorts through the prospective options.

"So, we find a way to introduce ourselves again," She waves her arms in the air exasperated, a shirt clutched in one. "Make it look like we have a strong frienship forming, even though we're already sisters."

"Aw, it will be like starting over, but I won't blow smoke in your face this time!" Macey gushes at our fond memories. We all laugh at the bitch that Macey once was.

"You two come over here and start trying on clothes. This pile is yours and that one is Liz's." Macey points. "Sorry I had to give some of your clothes to them, Cam."

That was probably the best news I heard all day: I wouldn't be able to wear all of Macey's clothes.

"That's alright, I have my own clothes," I stay put on my bed.

Bex and Liz eye me, shocked by my opposition, but I know who I'm facing. Macey could try all she wants, but I'm not wearing anything I'm uncomfortable with. Her clothes totally hinder my ability to Chameleonize into my environment! Unfortunately, Macey seems up for the challenge.

"I must be mistaken!" She put a hand on her forehead and feigns confusion. "I thought the Chameleon was an over achiever who would stop at nothing to blend in and complete a mission!"

I scrunch my eyebrows together and cross my arms hostilely, "Yeah, so?"

"So," She hold up a what appears to be a leotard. "This is what normal girls wear, and by wearing this you will successfully blend in with the others."

She obviously thinks she has a point, but I beg to differ.

"Macey I'm not going to a school for gymnasts," I remind.

Liz watches our argument like it's a tennis match: Back and forth, back and forth. Macey cringes at me for some reason.

"I know that, and I know this is not what you think it is," She answers to me like I'm a child in the deep end. "This is called a bodysuit- you wear it with jeans. It will look so cute on you!"

I have to admit, the tension in my neck certainly uncoiled when she mentioned I would be wearing jeans. Maybe Macey would respect my fashion boundaries.

"You can try it on in the morning, trust me, you'll like it," Macey smiles, clearly pleased with herself.

I get off my bed and head to the bathroom, much in need of a shower. Liz's statistics held weight, leaving me afraid of seeing Josh. As far as I know, he stills thinks I'm homeschooled and broke up with him for no reason. Maybe this exchange of sorts was a way of settling things between him and I. Best case scenario would be us becoming friends with him, worst case says he will hate me permanently. Looks like my life is always about playing fate.

I can't be conceited though and pretend like I will be the only one with boy trouble. When the mission commences, ten girls who were once in an all-girl school will be experiencing hormones of the opposite sex for the first time since they hit puberty, it will be my responsibility to protect them from getting hurt.

Lights out came soon enough, but the energy of the room was tangible, and I swear it took an hour before we could fall asleep. Before sleep was able to grab ahold of me, I promised I would only worry about the mission and the safety of the civilians over the security of my feelings; it's the moral thing to do after all.

The morning was hectic, I vaguely remember a threat to pour ice water on my head if I didn't wake up. Macey spent thirty minutes each on our makeup. She said half the time was spent on perfecting the winged eyeliner, I don't blame her, I've seen those things and they look hard for even the steadiest of hands. Other than the little wing, my makeup was pretty low key and natural. Starting off on the right side of the bed, I managed to get away with just brushing my hair and leaving it down.

The bodysuit Macey put me was one thing I was torn on. For one, the buttons! Whoever invented these things most likely had the best of intentions at heart, but failed miserably. By wearing this, the time it takes to go to the bathroom will inevitably triple. On the other hand, it was cute and comfortable. The body suit was short sleeved and army green, it also had a slightly plunging neckline. With the push-up bra Macey gave me, I had managed to present the perfect amount of cleavage (almost classy in a way if I do say so myself). I was also wearing light washed, high waisted jeans with mild distress on the thighs. The shoes were black vans with a weird white wave on the side. All in all, everything about my outfit, screamed assimilation. Hell yeah, was I ready to blend in!

Bex and Macey both had to look rich for their cover. Bex looked gorgeous in a black crop top and high waisted jeans, similar to the ones I was wearing, she also wore diamonds and what were surely expensive shoes. Macey, always one to appear muted, wore a Thrasher sweatshirt and Gucci slides (which she told me cost her over two hundred dollars), but whatever she wore didn't tone down her beauty. Liz wore a baby pink cardigan and flats, perfect for the fairy she truly was.

"All in under and hour and a half," Macey stops her channel watch. "That's got to be a record."

"And yet we still missed breakfast," I frown disappointed, I would only be able to grab an apple for the road.

"Come on, ladies, it's time," Bex ushers us through the door, but not before shoving the premade backpacks the school gave us into our hands. They were all black Jansport- we we're going into _deep_ cover.

Reaching the foyer and subsequently the double doors, different types of cars were all lined up outside, designated to our individualized covers.

"Ready for me to drive you to school, kiddo?" My mom asks, a smile playing on her lips.

"Don't you have more important things to do than be my cover mother?" I asked, bewildered she would take the time out of her day to drive me.

She kisses me on the forehead and places an apple in my hand along with a lunch box, "I always have time for you, now eat up."

"Ms. McHenry, Ms. Brown, if you will see yourselves into the Cadillac. You will be going first," My mother waves an arm out to the first car in the line.

The two wave goodbye and pile into the back of the sleek car, clearly excited about the mission.

"Did we pay for that?" I ask my mom as the Cadillac drives away.

"Of course not, the McHenry's did," My mother laughs and raises an eyebrow. "As you know, we chose to allocate our resources to advancing… technological equipment."

I laugh alongside her knowing exactly what she means. I would miss not having her as my headmistress, she will be in some ways but not like before.

The next car pulls forward and the bubblegum guard removes himself from the driver's seat.

"Only the best for the Morgan's," The guard tosses the keys of a Nissan Rogue to my mom. I swear, the school must have googled the top average-sized family car and bought it just to be like everyone else in this town.

"Hop in, Kiddo," My mom nudges me forward.

"See you in a bit, Cammie," Liz waves with the other six girls at the front steps of the double doors.

Here goes nothing.

* * *

 **So what did you guys think? Are you ready for some drama? I love your guys' support!**


	3. Show Off

**I get so caught up in the details, it's crazy. Forgot to add in the last chapter, but I hope you guys don't mind occasional cussing even when it is not in English (it is rated T so I didn't think much of it).**

 **In other news:**

* * *

Pulling up to the school, I see over a hundred students milling around; no one looks happy. Whoever said the first day of school was joyous and filled with much longed for reunion was flat-out wrong. The abnormally cloudy and cold weather wasn't reassuring me at all either.

"Remember your cover," My mom turns to me as we find our way to the drop-off line. "You we're made for this."

For the first time today I feel warm inside. There truly was nothing like a mother's love, more specifically when said mom is a bad-ass spy complimenting said daughter on her growing skills.

"Thanks, mom, it means a lot," I sling my bag onto my back and reach for the door handle. "I'll keep my eye out."

"Wait! Whatever you do, do not show off! It's important to seem purely average. That means academically and athletically," She puts her hand on my arm and squeezes.

Ha, appear average. That was kind of my thing, but I would be a fool to back talk with someone so dangerous. Instead, I absorb as much advice as I can.

"Will do," I smile and nod. She reaches and bear hugs me for a moment. I break away and exit to keep the line moving.

Smoothing my jeans, I observe my surrounding. Nothing looks right: there's no lacrosse field or beautiful gates, or even familiar faces. I wasn't even allowed to search for Bex or Macey if I wanted to keep to my cover. Walking nowhere in particular at the moment, someone approaches me to my right.

"You look lost," A girl who's all smiles calls out and stops in front of me.

"I am, it's my first day and I don't even know my schedule," I explain in a panicked tone.

"That's no problem, we get a couple of new people every year. Let me show you to the front office," She gushes and steers me away.

"Thanks so much, I'm sorry I'm such a burden to you," I don't truly feel like a burden, but my cover is a sheltered homeschooled girl, so my confidence isn't as high as I would like for it to be.

"Honey, it's no problem! I'm actually a guide for new students that need help."

The girl I notice is slightly shorter than me and has a round face has that reveals dimples every time she smiles kindly. It's strange to not be treated with disgust by the people of the town.

"So, what's your story?" Her small talk is quite intrusive, but I grant her the benefit of the doubt that she has the best of intentions.

"I lived here my whole life, but I was homeschooled. I finally managed to persuade my mom into enrolling me here," I lie to her, it's a shame I have to deceive someone so sweet.

She gasps, "So you have never had friends or- No! You've never had a boyfriend?" She eyes me up and down. "What a shame."

What does that look mean? However, her gaze seems trivial enough to dismiss, and I do without much thought. She pulls open the door to the office nods for me to go in, I don't object.

"I've had friends!" I protest and pull at the straps of my bag.

"Sure," She smiles apologetically then whispers. "But you've never seen the cute guys that go here."

She motions to one of the boys in the office with us. I'm thinking that that's one thing she got wrong when I'm almost taken aback by the guy she was referring to. Being the observant spy I am, I notice every detail of him with objectivity.

The boy must have been sixteen- my age. He was a little taller than average and had dark brown, medium length tousled hair. As he talked to the helper, I appreciated his sharp, strong jawline. The way he was leaning against the counter made his arms flex, and I couldn't stop myself from admiring them. I want to cringe at myself, my observation didn't turn out as objective as I would have liked it to been.

If the girls thought Josh was cute, wait till they see this one. If the rest of the guys at this school looked half as good as him, saving the school would be knocked down from priority number one and replaced with saving my sisters from swooning over these fine specimens.

Before he can catch me gawking I move myself behind him in the line. The new angle provided me a safe look at his back; the way his shirt hugged him made it clear he worked out, but natural enough to know he didn't use steroids (one can never be sure these days).

"He's got to be new," My semi-guide whispered in my ear. "I would have noticed him around if he wasn't."

I give her a small laugh. She made me realize my reaction was exactly what every other girl, and some guys, would have, proving I shouldn't get in over my head. I must stay completely unperturbed my all the impossibly hot guys at this school. Luckily, I had grown boy antibodies so while I may not be able to stop myself from looking, I could handle myself around them.

"I completely forgot! I'm Alex!" She introduces. "What's your name?"

Names. I was hoping to avoid them as much as I could. If anyone were to recognize me around here (besides the obvious people), it would be because of my name.

"I'm Cammie," I smile at her to give her no reason to research into my background. I wasn't one hundred percent certain josh or Deedee or Dillon didn't talk about me or spread rumors about me, but it was a possibility that I couldn't deny.

"That's funny," She quirks her head and stares into space. "Another cute guy at school-everyone loves him- he dated a girl named Cammie. I heard she ended it with him."

The way she says it makes it seem like a girl must be insane to break up with him. Not insane, I muse, just an insane lifestyle.

"Poor guy," I sympathize with her, drawing attention away from myself.

When the guy ahead of me receives his schedule he turns around, I try to step around him and take his place. He doesn't move for a second, just smirks and eyes me up and down too- seriously! What's up with people and their wandering eyes today? I pretend not to care as I shift around him, but his deep green eyes make me highly uncomfortable. Why must everything about him be striking?

"Excuse me," I say and turn my attention to the lady behind the desk, momentarily congratulating myself on my nonchalant brush off. The boy walks out the door and Alex's expression is one of bewilderment. No doubt she thinks I missed out on a wonderful opportunity, but I just shrug.

The lady behind the desk had a strong case of Debby downer, "Name?"

"Cameron Morgan," I reply.

"Are you another one of the unprepared students who comes crying to me complaining how they don't know their schedule when they should have printed it out from the school website?" She rolls her eyes, obviously done with the day.

"Yes?" I shift my head a little offended.

"Well do better, you'll be eaten alive by the rigor of this school if you aren't.," She pauses. Oh, I'm sure I will, I think sarcastically. "Here's your schedule."

A quick glance is all I need to memorize my schedule and the classrooms' locations.

"First class is Algebra Two with Mr. Jackson," Alex smiles wickedly. "You're in for a treat."

She's warning me, but I know I'll be fine. I have a photographic memory and took Algebra Two a _long_ time ago; there was no way I could fail that class, even though it most likely didn't matter if I did or not.

* * *

"I guess this is where we part," Alex stops outside the classroom.

"Thank you, see you around," I wave as she goes off.

I don't see any Gallagher Girls in the class, meaning I'm alone. I get a couple of questioning looks as I find a desk to sit at, thankfully there is a seating chart to make my life easier. I can't be sure why everyone is ogling at me, I'm dressed like every other girl here. Of all the stares I receive, one gets under my skin a little more than the others.

The boy from the office sat parallel to me two rows to my left, and I didn't have to have highly trained skills to feel his gaze on my profile. Awkward. Isn't it just my luck to have him in my first class?

The girl next to me is gossiping to her friend about how cute he is and how he's totally checking her out- I wish.

The bell doesn't take long to ring, beginning class.

"Good Morning, all," Mr. Jackson appears through the door perfectly on time, he resembles an aged Mr. Solomon in that way. "To see what I'm dealing with here, I'm giving you a graphing review sheet to start out the year, you are very much welcome."

Everyone around me groans. I stay silent and contemplate their reaction, it's only graphing- and a review much less. The girl in front of me passes the papers back and I take one, continuing the distribution. The sheet is only front and back, no problem.

"Raise your hand when you're done," Mr. Jackson leans back in his chair and starts a timer.

Grabbing a pencil from my bag, I knock out the first two in my head; factoring was easy. Writing down the answers much faster than Mr. Jackson would expect, I chide myself to slow down and go at the pace of others. This is all apart of not showing off.

Letting the other catch up after three minutes, I raise my hand to be the first to show my completion. Seemingly, hot guy thought he would be first too, but he wasn't as quick as me. He raised his hand and smirked like he was the best, but Mr. Jackson noticed mine first. A couple of people pick their heads up to gape at us, and I see they are just down factoring out problem one or writing down the quadratic formula on problem three. That's strange, my schedule did say Honors.

Mr. Jackson makes his way over to me, but glances at new guy, "Hold on, sir, let me check the first person who's done."

"Sir" twitches in annoyance; someone's not used to being second. I smile at him and turn my attention back to the teacher.

"These are all correct! Out of my twenty years of teaching you are the first person to not come back from the break sloppy. Everyone take note and do what Ms." He trails off and eyes me expectantly.

"Morgan," I answer, confused by the spectacle he's putting on.

"Do what Ms. Morgan does!" He throws himself in a full circle happily, waving my sheet in the air, quite agiley for an aging man. So much for not showing off.

"Mr. Goode is it?" Jackson makes his way to him and "Goode" nods, arms crossed. "Don't be so upset she beat you, it really wasn't a contest to begin with."

Goode cocks his heads and studies me more deeply, we lock eyes for a millisecond, then he turns his attention to the teacher.

"And you only got one wrong, very impressive," Jackson admires.

I still did better though, and Goode knows it. He seems like the type of person to be pissed about it but instead he smiles an I-know-something-you-don't-know smile and winks from across the room. New mission: Not only avoid Josh Abrahams, but avoid First Name Goode.

I think I have a slight blush on my cheeks as Goode mouths "show off" at me. What is the appropriate response to that? I lean forward and mouth back "ditto". His shoulders shake softly as he holds in a laugh. I'm not able to stop the smile that graces my lips. This is not good, to prevent further emotional surrender I turn my self to face the front wall. No way was I falling for another civilian.

The rest of the class was slow, somehow the review took up a whole forty-five minutes for everyone else (a quarter of the class gave up). Packing up my pencil I leave for second period, hoping to catch a glimpse of my friends in the sea of people around me.

"Morgan! What's the rush?" Goode puts a hand on my elbow and holds me back. I have the strongest urge to spin him and slam him into the lockers, but that's just the spy in me.

"Second period," I answer breaking free and moving on. I'm not sure which way is the seven hundred hallway, but with the circular layout of the school, I know I will get there.

Goode laughs like I said something hilarious. He keeps walking with me, probably not caring about where his next class is.

"That can wait," He teases, but I perceive it as pestering. "Anyway, I'm surprised someone finished before me. Math is kind of my strong suit."

"Not strong enough," I counter and wear my own smirk. "You'll just have to live with the fact that I'm better than you."

Goode appears entirely pleased with our back and forth, not acknowledging it's centered around his short-comings.

"I'll be better than you in something else then," He smiles, assuring himself. "What's your next class? I'll walk you there."

"Aren't you new? You don't even know where you're going," I roll my eyes, of all the people to offer to be my chauffer.

"If I'm not mistaken, so are you," he reminds, looking down at me. I hate that every time we talk I have to look up at him, it feels demeaning.

"Touché," I concede. "And English Two."

"Really? With who?" He perks up even more, the smirk that was plastered on his face grew.

"Olson," My eyes wandering through the crowd, I make eye contact with Macey and she gives me an almost unnoticeable nod of approval at the sight of Goode by my side. I want to scold her, but I don't know her yet.

"Looks like you have it with me too," He grins and I falter. Avoiding him is proving more difficult by the period.

"Fun," I say sarcastically.

By some miracle, we had found our way to Olson's class. Zach held the door open for me, visibly pleased with his chivalry- god was he so full of himself!

"I haven't asked yet, what's your name?" Zach tilts his head.

"Cammie?"

The one and only Josh Abrahams stands just inside the door talking with a group of friends. "What are you doing here?"

Mierda! Today was just perfect. I had to explain myself at some point, now would have to do, I have a valid reason he should hear after all.

"Umm…" Is all that comes out.

"Do you know this guy?" Zach nods his head in Josh's direction critically and then adds on. "Cammie."

A small whimper of pity for myself escapes my lips.

* * *

 **Question: Do you readers prefer low key or high Key drama? You're input helps me a lot!**

 **Side note: How is my grammer? Usually, I would be annoyed by the usage of "yeah" and other slang in writing, but I'm only using it to mimic regular teen behavior. If that bothers you tell me- I don't want this fanfic to be cringe.**


	4. What Are the Odds?

**A Big Thank You to:**

 **Guest123- I feel you, lol, Thanks for your input!**

 **Smiles180- Me too, I think the story will be less cringe if I don't put Cammie into any major girl drama (she's not the type of person to do that anyway).**

 **bluecheetah8- Thank you so much, good to know I'm literate!**

 **Chad- Whoops *shrugs shoulders innocently* While I do not condone murder, Blackthorne academy sure does (possible foreshadow for the story? maybe?). Do with that what you will!**

 **bad-girls-always-bad- Thank you for continually reviewing my chapters!**

 **Storytime:**

* * *

"Settle down," Someone pushes Goode and I through the door. "We have a lot of ground to cover today."

Mrs. Olson was the one to break up Josh and I's reunion; I will forever be in her debt. I lift a shoulder with false apology at Josh and head to an empty seat. Too bad I wasn't upfront with my hostile feelings to the two boys because they followed me to a square table composed of four desks. One girl was already there, and she looked entirely too pleased with her self when she saw Josh and Zach coming to her table. Alex was right when she said everyone loved Josh, he was cute- I would know.

I keep my back turned to them and slide into my seat. Josh seats himself next to me and Zach is across. They both try to catch my eye, but it's glued to the presentation being set up. Olson wasn't one to waste time, the first slide to her PowerPoint listed the Do's and Don'ts of her classroom.

"One," She reads off the screen. "Don't talk while I'm talking."

Easy enough.

"Cammie, what are you doing here?" Josh leans over. Did he not hear what our teacher just said? "And who's this?"

"I'm Zach, Cammie's friend," Goode finally gives his name.

"We should probably pay attention," I whisper and try to appear completely focused on whatever Olson moved on to. I could deal with him later.

"I thought you were new to town?" The hopeful look in Zach's eyes make me think there is nothing more in the world he wants more than me to tell him otherwise.

"Cammie and I go way back," Josh glares. What he said was the biggest exaggeration I've ever heard, but Zach had no way of knowing.

Zach seems to relax for some reason, but he's still wound up pretty tight. I could swear I saw him mutter a sigh of relief, but then the agitation comes right back with a jaw twitch when Josh leans into me somewhat.

"You said you were homeschooled," Josh pokes for an answer.

"I was," I don't look away from the screen.

"Three," Olson looks up. When did she go through the second one? "Treat others with respect."

"That doesn't explain why you're here now," Josh appears hurt, I owe him consolation.

"My mom was getting tired of me, Josh" Out of the corner of my eye, I see Zach watching us, searching for an opportunity to butt in. "So here I am."

"Oh," Josh nods, not sure how to keep the conversation going- good. "So-"

"Take her advice: eyes up front, Jimmy," Zach leans forward across the table. "We should be learning about respect."

Josh was about to confront the blatant disrespect when a shrill voice beat him to it.

"You three! Move away from each other since you insist on breaking every guideline I am setting up," Mrs. Olson waves a hand as if to disperse us. When will I ever stop owing her?

I grab my bag and head for an open seat closest to the door, in case I need to make a much-needed quick escape. Zach moves to the opposite side of the room, at a table with three other girls, two of which flip their hair flirtatiously, the other rolls her eyes. Maybe some people here did have their head on straight. Josh wanders to a table filled with people eager to welcome them.

It took Mrs. Olson ten minutes to go over what she expected from us. How something so simple as basic human decency could fill that time span is beyond me.

"As you probably don't know," Mrs. Olson sighs like she goes through this every year. "Your summer reading essay on The Great Gatsby will be due tomorrow- it's a summative."

My mouth drops open, she was right: I had no idea I needed to have an essay turned in. Everyone around me looks out of place as they ask the person seating next to them if they knew.

"It is your responsibility to check your parent's email," Olson scolds. That doesn't even make sense!

The class looks at her, full of annoyance. Key word: _parent's_ email. Civilian teachers are crazy, no wonder teenagers go mad.

"I Suggest you grab a copy up front then and get to work," Mrs. Olson points to the pile of books at the front then retreats to her desk, most likely to ignore us for the rest of the period.

Essays were easy for me, but reading a book and coming up with a final draft of an essay to turn in tomorrow could be said to be inhumane. This would be like putting work off till the last minute, and that's _not_ how I work.

The class has already swarmed around the books, I keep a healthy distance back. However, not being trampled comes at a cost.

"So, Cammie," Josh finds his way to my side. "We have a lot of catching up to do, we should be partners."

I think Josh was missing the point of the paper, but I didn't have time to say it.

"Actually, Jimmy, essays aren't group projects," Zach picks up a book and walks away smirking. Maybe Zach wasn't useless after all.

"Sorry, Josh," I frown and pick up a book. "Maybe we could talk another time, what happened that night really is not what you think."

I miss how it was with Josh and me, but I'm smart enough to realize it can never go back to be the way it was. What I can try to do is moving on, no matter how much it hurts.

"I believe you, Cam," Josh smiles. "I would like hanging out with you again."

So would I, but it's illegal.

I make my way back to my desk. Everyone at my table already has a thousand questions they want to ask me, I can see them written on their face.

"Are you the girl that broke up with Josh?" The girl to my left asks while wearing a glare. It doesn't affect me though, it's much tamer than a Gallagher Glare.

"Did you know that every girl hated you while you two were dating?" A guy across raises an eyebrow and laughs. So Josh did talk about me.

"Did you know Dillon stills says Josh isn't over you?" The same girl continues.

"Did you mean to break the most beloved boy at this school's heart?" The other girl at the table folds her arms accusingly.

"I was forced, no, no, and no of course not," Is all I give them, I try to keep to the truth as much as possible.

"What do you mean you were-" I cut the boy off.

"I can't be the only one that needs to read this book and write an essay," I talk some since into them then open to chapter one. The others see the urgence and don't bother me again.

I'm the first out the door when the bell rings. Looking at history, it's only a matter of time till Zach or Josh comes running after me. Props to the designers of this building for putting a bathroom in each hallway though. I sneak myself into one for girls before anyone can find me.

When I walk in, the sight of Macey forcing Liz's head into a forty-five-degree angle is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

"Macey! Liz! You have no idea how happy I am to see you two," I rush over to see the torture Macey is inflicting.

"Cammie! I haven't seen you all- Ow!" Liz tries to face me.

"Don't move, the knotting will get worse," Macey's face scrunches in concentration.

"What happened?" My curiosity grows as I get closer and see a ringlet of Liz's hair interwoven with her earring.

"Our favorite clutz says she moved her head to fast and this occurred," Macey snaps her head to the right in reenactment.

"Oopsy daisy?" Liz shrinks under Macey. "Enough about me, how's your day going?"

I look around the empty bathroom.

"Nothing suspicious so far, I haven't had a single Gallagher Girl in my classes," I watch as Macey slowly works her magic.

"Bex and I have first together," Liz tries to look serious, but the situation she's in doesn't help.

"Eva and I have second," Macey pulls out the last of the hair. "Ta-da!"

"I'm going to Organic Chemistry with Down next, I should go if I want to be on time," I nod my head back to the door.

"Ever heard of being fashionably late?" Macey starts reapplying makeup in the mirror.

Liz gasps, "Not to class! Come on, Cam, that's my next period too."

Finally, someone I know (and like) has a class with me. The amount of people in the hall died down some, offering little coverage from anyone who wanted to confront me. A true pavement artist doesn't need to hide however, I choose to blend in and act like everyone else.

The tried and true does not fail me, and I arrive at class unbothered.

"Have you seen Josh yet?" Liz stares wide-eyed around the lab.

"Hi, I'm Cammie," I fix her mistake, incase anyone is watching. "Nice to meet you."

Liz physically jumps a little and most likely mentally slaps herself.

"I'm Liz, we should sit together," Liz points to a table in the back.

Sitting down she urges me to give her an answer.

"Yes, he's in my second," Liz opens her mouth for more. "And yes, I did talk to him. I'll explain when we're all together."

She nods and pulls out a binder to take notes. This class, even though it just started, is already my favorite. There is no Josh, no Zach, no anyone to stir up drama. Not to mention I aced organic Chemistry in eighth grade.

"Do not tell my superiors that-" A middle-aged woman stands at the front of the class with her hands on her hips. "We will be skipping the Nature of Science unit that the state makes you do every year since fifth grade."

The class cheers and I join them willingly, not just to blend in. Only two people seemed disappointed by the cutting of an educational unit, and one sat next to me. The other is across the aisle. Liz notices too and makes a face of unbelief to the scrawny boy with black hair and wiry glasses. I want to say I am against stereotypes, but this guy was nerd through and through.

"He's cute," I nudge Liz who turns beet red and looks down to scribble something in her notebook. Her first note is a reminder to go over The Nature of Science back at Gallagher. I thought the curriculum here would be an insult to Liz, but she didn't notice how below her it was.

"Grab your books and open up to chapter two: Atoms," Down commands. "We'll go over names later."

Liz and the boy are the first to open their book, no doubt the only ones who care about their education (besides me of course).

"I love atoms," The boy leans over to Liz. "I'm Jonas by the way."

"I'm Liz, I love atoms too," Liz smiles.

What does that even mean? I should have never encouraged her, I thought she would have accounted for the fallout between Josh and I and not start her own tragic love story. Leave it to Liz to forget about how dangerous that facade can be.

"Have you studied Dalton's theory of Atoms?" Jonas askes Liz, completely abandoning chapter two.

"That child's play? I read that stuff for bedtime stories! What's really interesting is Hawking's new-" Liz goes on and on with Jonas, I could follow for the most part, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

The three of us we're done first. As much as it pains me, Jonas is growing on me. For one, he can keep up, and not just keep up, I found myself struggling to comprehend the two when he and Liz talked. Something that revealed itself quite early was how sweet and clumsy he is too. If Liz was normal, they would be a match made in heaven.

Note for later: Ask professor Moskowitz if he ever created advanced clones in the opposite gender.

"The bell will ring any minute, go to lunch next," Ms. Down walked up and down the aisles, observing our progress.

On the dot, the bells goes off. I have to snap my fingers in Liz's face to take her out of the trance Jonas had put her in.

"Class is over, Liz," I tell her.

"Do you want to join a friend and I at lunch? I know you are new," Liz offers politely, while she may be better behind a computer, she sure proves herself in the field.

"I would love that," I accept. The three of us walk out of the class and towards the lunch room.

"I'm going to sit with another girl I just met," Liz looks at Jonas. "You should join so we could uh… talk more about atoms!"

"Sounds great," Jonas blushes as much as Liz. "Can I invite my neighbor? he's new too."

"That's really nice of you, Jonas," I smile more at his kindness. "Of course they're welcome."

"Speak of the devil," Jonas points.

When Jonas said that innocuous phrase, I should have known it would turn itself into something completely opposite.

"Hey, Cammie!" Zach walks up to us. "Fancy seeing you here."

Karma, why hath thou forsaken me?

"Zach," Jonas and Zach do a strange handshake then jesters to Liz and I. "Do you want to join us at lunch?"

Zach smiles at Jonas and Liz, but it morphs into smirk when his eyes find mine.

"I would love that."

"I'm sure you would," I mumble to the ground while rolling my eyes.

* * *

 **Can you guys handle another cliffhanger? Just think: A thirty minute lunch with the gang all together, Zach and Cammie in such close proximity, all while nobody _truly_ knows who the other is. Happy New Years!**


	5. Lunch Break

**This chapter, just like lunch, is kind of short and not really productive but you can't do anything about it so!**

* * *

Zach might have well been glued to my side as we were pulled among the crowd and into the cafeteria. He wants to mess with me, but I'm afraid to give him the opportunity. In all honesty, I shouldn't be the one nervous or ashamed to talk to him, hell he's only following me like a lost puppy because I'm better than him and he can't let that go. He promised to show me up some other time, and for my sanity's sake I hope it's soon.

The lunch room is so small students cascade out the door in search for more room at the same rate people push their way in. This will be a nightmare to maneuver, but crowds are what I do best, so I volunteer to go first when we reach the double doors (which happen to have two people stuck to the latches on the side, rendering only one door usable while the two fail to break free).

"I have my lunch so I can go find us a table," I announce scanning the room, the odds of finding a free table are slim to none, and Liz looks at me like she knows it. I will her with my eyes to help me out.

"I brought too, I'll help you," Liz rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet then looks at the boys. "We promise to save you a seat."

Zach eyes the ever-growing al a carte line, "Come on, Jonas, don't want to keep them waiting. Be back in an hour, Cammie."

He gives me one last peculiar smile then pulls Jonas along. The two immediately launch into a hushed conversation, it's rapid but I'm out of earshot to hear what they think is so important.

"There's Bex over there-" Liz motions and I slowly approach to the table she occupies. "We knew Macey would be with her, but who's the muscle man accompanying her?"

"Another one?" I groan, my head falls back dramatically. The boy she is referring to is a Greek god come alive. "Where are they coming from?"

"Jonas is pretty cute, huh?" Liz agrees to whatever she thinks I implied. "Hey, Bex!"

"Don't forget to introduce me," I whisper to her before we're too close to them. She stopped taking cove-ops Freshman year, a tip wouldn't hurt her.

"Bex," She stands over the three and holds a hand out to me. "This is Cammie, she's new and was in my last class."

She could've stopped there but her over-achieving self takes over and goes more in depth, "I would introduce you to the other two, but I'm not sure who they are. Oh! I'm Liz by the way! And I thought Cammie could join us to help her out because-"

She receiving strange looks from us, so I stop her, "May we sit? We brought two other guys too, but they're in the line."

Macey pats a spot my her on the circular table, "No problem, I'm Macey. Bex and I are sort of new too."

"Sort of?" I play along, mostly to see how she explains herself, but also to set up a foundation around the new, new guy we attracted.

"Well," Bex shrugs and straightens her back proudly. "We got kicked out of that snobby academy down the road."

The boy beside her laughs and gives her a once over approvingly. He still needs to be announced, but it's not my place to ask.

"I'm Grant by the way," He elbows Bex. "She promised to tell me the full story if I sat with her at lunch."

So Bex was the instigator. Why am I not surprised? She did want to get in trouble this year, and I don't have the power to stop her here.

Bex recounts the tale that never happened in her foreign accent that has Grant drooling. I'll concede that Greek God and Egyptian Goddess would make a pretty holy couple. Macey occasionally adds a detail or two, but her attention is mainly on the one "uneven" nail that just won't "surrender". It's simple for me to seem interested, I totally am because One: Bex is a great actress. Two: She is making this all up on the spot. Three: It takes up time.

From across the room, I could see Josh was at a table with his friends, including Deedee and Dillon. I kept my eyes off them so they wouldn't know I could see the stink eye Dillon was giving me or the pleasant wave Deedee was trying to get my attention with. His friends nudged him and jerked their heads to where I sit, my bet says they're trying to get him to come over to me. I slouch lower, there's not much I can do to prevent an act of defiant male bravery. Josh seems to shake his head, showing he'll keep his distance for now. That's the only time a problem will resolve itself.

"Don't look now," Macey halts her filing. "But the guy that walked with you earlier is coming over."

A.K.A. look at the what I'm talking about in the most covert way manageable through the nearest reflective surface. My water bottle suffices, in it I see Zach and Jonas walking over carrying two trays- about time, they've been in line for seven minutes and five seconds. A part of me wished the line swallowed Zach whole, I'm okay with Jonas surviving though.

"I might have accidently welcomed him to sit with us," I whisper to Macey. She pushes her head in and down and raises her eyebrows, her mouth open. She then giggles and cups a hand around my ear the same way children do when they want to reveal a secret.

"I thought you said you weren't down with civilians," Macey whisper-shouts. "He is like Operation Josh times a thousand!"

I giggle back to hide my annoyance and whisper in her ear in return, "I said accidently! And this is so not Operation Josh!"

"You want to let me in on the gossip, girls," Zach smothes himself next to me to make room for all of us. Jonas sits down next to Liz, but they don't get as close, because, little to Zach's knowledge, there really is enough room for seven people to sit comfortably, personal space intact.

"Macey this is Zach, he's bitter he can't graph as fast as me," I roll my eyes, while I really only introduced him to her, the others join in so were all in the same conversation.

"Zach being put in his place- I wish I could've seen that!" Jonas laughs. Even though Grant doesn't know Zach, he finds the image of him loosing incredible too and chuckles.

"I told you I would show you up some other way," Zach says with a mouthful of whatever the lunch ladies served. In other words: Gross. I could not begin to thank Chef Louise enough for making me an artisan sandwich for my lunch.

"Good luck with that, I only had one class with her and I can tell she's stubborn," Liz tells everyone then takes a bite of her apple innocently. She's completely egging me on, but I give in.

"I am not!" The best person to defend myself.

"I see what you mean, Liz," Bex's retourt makes everyone laugh in unity, including me. Zach's arms brush against my own as he rocks back and forth, laughing a little harder than the others and nodding vigorously. He has a nice laugh, real throaty- not like I'd ever tell him though.

The rest of lunch is nice. My friends and I work as a team naturally and every piece of our cover falls into place with the civilians. They aren't like other ones though, none of them ask about my reputation here or what I've done. Either they don't care, or they don't know, I couldn't care less as long as we stayed on a light topic.

Sitting down, it was clear how smitten Liz and Bex are with their respective boys. It's worse than I thought, in the end It will only be Macey with me to remain immune. Her lifestyle has shown her multitudes of models or athletes she would rather pick from.

"What are y'alls next classes?" Liz askes two minutes till dismissal, her accent comes through sweetly and full of drawl.

"I've got gym, can't wait to see how that goes," Bex's sarcasm is mostly directed towards us. Regular P.E. wouldn't be half as entertaining or challenging as our P&E.

"I have gym next too," I share a smile with Bex, it's perfect that we have that class together.

"Surprise, Surprise!" Zach puts an arm around me, pulling me closer, I resist the impulse of elbowing his crouch, I have such a perfect angle right now. "We have another class together."

"I have it too, I heard we're doing some physical fitness tests. Maybe I can see you get even with her, Zach." Grant looks at him slyly, I get a strange feeling that they're in on something.

Bex smiles at me like we're in on something too, and we are. Anything a regular teenager could do, I could do better (exclusions apply). Maybe it would be better in the long term if I let Zach repair his damaged ego though, I might be able to get rid of him that way. Zach stills has his arms hanging loosely on my shoulders when Macey gives me a completely different-not as fun- look.

"I'm going to Computers- Alone to top it off," Macey rolls her eyes, undoubtedly feeling like she is subject to the most heart-breaking tragedy.

"You'll be with Jonas and I- We already discussed our schedules," Liz pipes up then blushes, pulling at her strawberry blonde locks that were once trapped in a stud. Aw, freaky-smart nerd crush! It's so bad, but so cute!

"Come on then, Morgan," Zach pulls me up with him, I pretend to be weak and not protest this one. "Let me prove to you you're not all that."

"Neither are you, Goode," I remind. Bex whoops and Grant sucks in a breath, shocked by my sass. My plan to appear weak was quickly dissolving.

"You know bloody well girls do it better!" Bex hypes up no one in particular and stands up to take my side.

"Zach, man, I don't think we should take it easy on them anymore," Grant warns us, but his threat doesn't work on a Gallagher girl, especially Bex who hits him for even considering treating us like inferiors.

"Bex, girl, I don't think we should take it easy on them anymore," I mock grant, still serious about what I said.

Bex cracks her neck then moves on to her knuckles, pops emitting slowly as she moves from thumb to pinky.

"Way ahead of you," Bex's expression deadpan. The boys should be scared, but they're ignorant.

The three that weren't in the stand-off watch in amusement. Liz looks scared for the boys while Jonas looks confidant. Macey shakes her head tisking, probably thinking something along the lines of "Those poor babies don't know what they're getting themselves into!"

I agree.

* * *

 **The saddest thing about Zach not knowing Cammie is a spy, is how he can't call her Gallagher Girl. Let us shed a tear.**


	6. You Wanna Go?

**Thank You To:**

 **Jazzy- THANK YOU!**

 **bad-girls-always-bad- So they'll figure it out soon enough, I have it all planned out. It's not like figuring out they are spies is the main conflict that takes up the whole story. Still, it will be around three more chapters till they put two and two together.**

 **4EverAGallagherGirl- They may be Goode at hiding secrets, but they can't keep their true identities hidden for long! Look at what I said above for ellaboration.**

 **AaGallagherGirl- You're so sweet thank you!**

 **Dreamer0704- Thank you! You don't now what your missing till it's gone. Schedule below...**

 **To EVERYONE! My updating schedule is every other day!**

* * *

Lunch was the calm before the storm. In the locker room, Bex and I talked strategy quietly as we dressed out into the baggy uniforms.

"How far are we going to take this, Cam?" Bex bends tying her laces, I join her untying and redoing my own. For the past five minutes I had been contemplating my response. As much as it pained me to say, I would have to throw this one.

"I think I'm going to stop trying when the other girls stop trying," I double knot my Nikes. Bex looks around skeptically at the frilly girls hiking their gym shorts up so far they gave themselves wedgies.

"You mean you're not going to even put in the effort to beat that cocky boy who had his hands all over you? Don't get me wrong, I don't blame you, he was hot," Bex raises an eye to meet me but keeps her voice low.

"I did not let him put his hands all over me!" I stare at her, my mouth agape. Zach was better than a creep, not by much, but better.

"I sat with you guys at lunch for thirty minutes-" Bex tries to argue.

"Twenty-two and fifty-five seconds, he was in line for seven minutes," I try to give myself every upper hand I can get. Bex just glares, done with my protest.

"Okay," She continues, bothered I interrupted. "I sat with you two for over twenty minutes. It was so obvious he was trying to impress you."

She's about to further her point but I can't resist the urge to disagree. I stand up and Bex follows.

"He is cocky, that's why he wants to fix his broken ego, it has nothing to do with impressing me," It might have made sense if Zach was trying to impress a pretty girl, not me.

Bex looks at me incredulously then gives in, "Forget his intentions then, since you obviously don't get it. In the end, you're still offering to lower yourself to make this guy comfortable."

Ugh, Bex did have a way of making me want to be my best, but being the best didn't benefit me when it came to Zach.

"No, I'm lowering myself so Zach can get his little win and move on, so we both can be comfortable! The only reason he is annoying me with his presence is because he just wants to see me lose," I flick a hand around as I talk. She thinks she knows everything about him, but I'm the one who had four classes with him.

"That is not the reason he goes out of his way to be around you!" Bex smirks. "Don't think if you lose a competition with him he'll simply drop it. Guys always have to rub in their success- He won't let you forget it!"

My heart sinks, guys are like that. Why would Zach act any differently?

"You're right," I reluctantly see her where she's coming from. "If he can't handle what I can really do, then he doesn't deserve to be better than my half-assed effort."

"There you go!" Bex pats me on the back.

"Ladies," The coach comes out of her adjoined office and shouts at the remaining stragglers milling around, "Get in that gym! You have tests!"

Bex and I exit and head towards the bleachers marked for seniors. Zach and Grant sit together and look at as like we have to sit by them. Bex and I share a look.

"Let's cold-shoulder them," I say and motion my hand to a group of girls behind them.

"They can't handle us," Bex approves.

The boys still think we are going to sit with them, but we keep our eyes off the two as we climb four more rows behind them and sit with some other girls. The group happens to be the same ones who pulled their shorts so far up their butts they practically became underwear.

"Hi! Are you two new?" A perky, blonde asks. Her friends around her gaze at us fascinated.

"More or less," I answer with a sly smile shared with Bex.

The group laughs but seem confused.

"What do you mean?" Some other girl with a brown bob questioned.

"Cammie here has been homeschooled just around the corner and I'm Bex, I've been freshly kicked out of Gallagher Academy," Bex sits down and I join her at the end. As soon as the word "Gallagher" leaves her mouth, Bex gets the withering glares.

"You went there?" The blonde scoots away from us.

"My wonderful parents sent me there to get rid of me, I was there for an hour before I put a hole in their floors with a bottle of acid and they had to let me go," Bex smiles wickedly. "That place was awful, everyone was so full of themselves!"

The girls laugh and scoot back over to us, no longer viewing us as a threat.

"Aren't they?" The blonde that is obviously full of herself asks. "We hate them here."

"As you should!" Bex laughs and leans back, searching the gym.

"But there are some weird people here too," Bex shudders. I awe her ability to transition to our mission.

"Yes!" Someone drags out, the rest of the groups sighs. "Do you know who Brandon is? He's kind of new too."

I shake my head, "You so have to spill," I lean forward and prop my head on my hands.

"He has this group of friends, and they are total druggies," The blonde says with disgust.

"Not just the normal stoners, but like hard-stuff druggies," A girl with dark hair grimaces.

"They seem even more weird recently, always being caught in places they shouldn't be," The girl with the bob pauses and waves a finger around her clique. "We just heard that he and some others tried to break in to the principles office- who knows why!."

Bex and I look at each other with surprise, it sounds like our mission is almost over. We had a suspect that even civilians thought was sketchy.

"What's Brandon's last name?" I basically have my mental notepad open in my mind scribbling notes like a journalist discovering a breaking scoop.

"Hurtz," The blonde answers, "I'm Kassandra by the way. This is Blair and Claire."

I want to laugh at the stereotypical posse dynamic, but I control myself.

"Freshmen and Sophomores stay inside, Juniors and Seniors follow your coaches to the courts outside," The couch from earlier screeches through a malfunctioning microphone.

"Great, it's time for the Pacer again," Blair groans.

"What's the Pacer?" Bex raises an eyebrow.

"This is your first time?" Kassandra gasps and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Yours too, Cammie?"

We nod together, unsure of what we are getting ourselves into.

"Basically, you have to run back and forth till you die," Claire's bob sweeps into her eyes, making her elaboration extremely ominous.

"Please, you know you only have to do thirty laps!" Blair bumps her shoulder.

"Yeah, so?" Claire responds. To her there wasn't a difference.

"Everyone line up on the sidelines! This time please do at least ten laps!" Coach begs.

"Is this a time relay race or something," I ask Kassandra as we carefully move down the stairs of the bleachers.

"A little bit, it will explain itself in the introduction," The sides of her mouth flick down, I'm guessing it's because of the wedgie.

Zach was waiting for me when I attempted to pass him, it wasn't till I reached his spot did he start following the rest of the class down.

"Ready, Morgan?" He stretches his arms out in front of him. "You already know I'll be faster than you, just give up now."

If I was still planning on going easy on him before, I wouldn't now. The other girls said the students at Gallagher were full of themselves, I beg to differ. If someone conducted a study to see who was more egotistical: Spies or civilians, it would be civilians just because of Zach.

"You can't believe this will prove anything right?" I find a spot on the end line next to Bex.

"You're right, it will back up what we already know," Zach smirks and looks down at me again. I glare up at him. What a sexist-

"Get into partners of two, when one of you runs the other will be sitting counting laps," Coach has a hand on an old-school cd player.

"Grant, you and I be partners and Cammie and Bex can be partners," Zach decides. "Cam and I will race first."

The others nod and grab a white board and marker to count laps. The bleachers sink into the walls to give us more space to run.

"Listen up! I'm playing the track now," Coach presses a button and sound fills the room.

"The Fitness Gram™ Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. The 20-meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start. The running speed starts slowly, but gets faster each minute after you hear this signal. [beep] A single lap should be completed each time you hear this sound. [ding] Remember to run in a straight line, and run as long as possible. The second time you fail to complete a lap before the sound, your test is over. The test will begin on the word start. On your mark, get ready, start."

I take off at a mild jog as does everyone else. Zach goes faster than the others and makes it first to the other side. I reach the line when the others do, granted I have to slow down to not beat them.

"It's not a race, Goode," I tease, if Zach went at that pace the entire time he would burn out fast.

"If you haven't noticed, Morgan, that's exactly what it is," Zach smirks.

The next beep doesn't go off for ten seconds, leaving too much time for Zach and I to square each other up. Running back, Zach goes significantly slower than the first time.

"You can handle not being first this time?" I smirk as we are among the last to reach the line.

"I thought I would keep you company," He smiles. "Besides, this is about whoever last the longest."

"Yeah," I eye him up and down, five seconds till we have to go again. "I'm totally going to win."

 _Beep._

"Goode luck with that," Zach calls over his shoulder as I jog behind. "Did you hear the "e"?"

I laugh, finding him genuinely funny. I'm going to crush him. I started it academically, I'm going to finish it athletically. Might as well throw my mother's warning about not showing off out the window.

Thirty laps passed, every couple of laps allowing less time to complete them. Only one freshman was left, less than half the sophomores remained. Most left after they completed ten laps. Weak.

Bex cheers me on, assured that the pacer was over before it started. Grant just leaned back and tallied the laps.

Once fifty laps have passed, I felt it. Why was water torture a thing when the CIA could just make terrorist run back and forth till they spilled their deepest secrets? Zach looks a little uncomfortable too, but every time I look at him directly he puts on a mask of ease. Jogging wasn't an option anymore, I was at a healthy run each lap, but not quite a warm-up sprint back at Gallagher.

I was the only girl left, and people started rooting for me or the other ten guys with me. Most of them looked like track stars or football jocks. More than once, I saw them looking at me with amazement; I had barely broken a sweat.

"You can give up now, Morgan," Zach mocks. "I wouldn't blame you."

"I think you are the one that wants to back out, go ahead," We come to a stop again. "I wouldn't blame you."

I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand and Zach lifts his shirt to wipe the beads of sweat over his lips. The bottom of his shirt moves up to uncover the lower half of his stomach. My face gets hotter at the sight of the abs peeking out from under. Zach bites the collar of his shirt and puffs, lifting his eyebrows at me, he must have caught me staring. He drops the shirt to smirk and open his mouth.

 _Beep._

I sprint away from him, not caring about conserving energy. That cannot happen again. Maybe guys at this school are fit and it's hot here, of course I was going to see a guy lift his shirt to cool down! I have to learn how to handle it if I have to keep on taking gym.

"You went a little fast there, didn't you?" Goode eyes my red cheeks.

"It's getting faster," I shrug and take off again.

Ninety laps.

That's where we were at. The others gave up at seventy, giving the floor to Zach and I. The girls mostly cheered for Zach, every time we were resting at the opposite end of the stadium he would lift his shirt to wipe off his face, giving the girls something to gawk at. Instead of staring again, I just rolled my eyes. The guys mostly cheered me on, impressed I could keep up with one of their own, even Grant who thought I wouldn't be a match for Zach seemed dumbfounded (Bex got a kick at that). Soon he even started cheering my name (Zach did not get a kick out of that).

"How long does this go on?" I gasp. This may be hard, but my motivation is knowing that no matter how many laps I do here, I still work harder sparing Bex in P&E.

"I have no idea," Zach breathes heavily then shouts to the coach. "How long is this?"

"It has a hundred and six laps, you can stop when you want," Coach marvels at our ability to keep going. "Both of you have proven yourselves."

"No!" We both shout back. I turn to glare at Zach, I'm putting myself through this just for him. Credit where credit is due, Zach put up more of a fight than I thought a civilian was capable of.

A hundred and three laps.

My legs are burning and so are my lungs. The blood pounds in my ears. My shirt sticks to my back and I don't even want to imagine what my underarms look like. The ponytail I put my hair in keeps slipping further and further down the nape of my neck. Only three more laps, I can do this.

"You really aren't going to give up, are you?" Zach gulps down air, he's doubled over looking up at me.

"What would make you think that?" I wheeze with my arms resting on my head.

I take off at the best sprint I can, but I'm worn down. I barely reach the line before the beep goes off again. I dizzy myself spinning around to sprint right back. The wall of students wave their arms as if to pull me back themselves.

"Since we're both going to make it to the last lap, whoever finishes first wins," Zach concedes breathlessly.

"Fair enough," For the hundred and fifth time, we travel to the other side of the room.

I pose myself like a sprinter and wait for the beep. Last one. Last one.

 _Beep._

My reaction time is better than Zach's. I'm the one with the lead a quarter of the way back, everyone cheers wildly. I'll be the first one. The first one.

Zach is too close behind me. Zach is beside me. He is in front of me.

"Cammie, I swear to bloody god I did not sit here to watch you lose!" Bex calls out.

I'm a Gallagher Girl, I won't.

Zach is only ahead of me by a hair. Using the last of the glucose in my body, I throw myself forward, breaking myself to be stronger than him. I pump my arms to give me more momentum.

I close my eyes, and let deafening screams flood my ears. Someone stops me from smacking the wall. My eyes fly open, surprised to stop moving.

"You did it! You won!" Bex grabs my sweaty face then lets go just as quick. "Ew."

I slide down the wall, gasping with my arms stretched above my head. I receive pats on my back and I can't help but grin broadly. Zach has a hand on Grant's shoulder to steady himself. Grant must have told him I clearly won because Zach's head swivels over to me, his mouth open in shock. Proving him wrong felt _so_ good.

"You totally gave that hottie a run for his money," Claire laughs, she's probably never seen someone make it to the end of a Pacer test. "It was amazing to watch him. Is he single?"

For some unexplainable reason that ticked me off, "You can ask him yourself."

She goes of to do just that, and Bex takes her place.

"I knew you could do it, Cam! Now keep track of me," Bex passes me the whiteboard than leaves to line up for her share of the test.

"Good luck," I try to encourage her but just take in more air.

Claire jutted out a hip and was twirling her hair, her way of flirting with Zach. He literally waves her off and shuffles towards me, his hands are on the back of his head, which lifts his shirt again.

 _Beep._

I flinch. This time I can attribute it to the god awful track and not the sight of Zach. He puts his hands out on the bleachers and towers directly over me, putting me in a highly unnatural position when I look up at him.

"How did you do it?" Zach recovered enough to no longer sound like he was dying of asphyxiation.

"I imagined a future where you won," I respond in the same tone. "And I just couldn't let that happen."

I think Zach snapped because he just turns himself around and squats to sit next to me. He's laughing so hard his head falls onto my shoulder.

"Gah! Gross, you're getting sweat all over me," I try to push his head off, but his hair is too sweaty, so my hand just slides through. I wipe the sweat on his toned arm. Great now I'm the handsy one.

"Like you aren't sweating right now," Zach reminds then picks his head up to give me a once over. The feeling of self-consciousness constricts me, it happens every time he looks at me like that.

"I keep it to myself," Nonchalantly marking a tally for Bex.

"But really, we almost killed our lungs because you couldn't let me win a little?" Zach watches Grant come back as he and Bex put on their own race.

"You have to earn a win, I'm not just going to give it to you," Must I give him the Webster dictionary definition of what winning is?

"You're making this more difficult than it has to be, Morgan," He tends to use my last name every time he wants to challenge me. Zach brings a leg to his chest with his arm and concentrates on me.

"What?" I pull the board close to me, using it as a shield from his emerald green eyes.

"Nothing, Cam, it's only that," He pauses to smirk. "This will be fun."

Grant gave up after the eighty-something lap, he says he saw me run and knew Bex would be no different, so he gave up before the Pacer got too bad. I wish Zach had been that easy. Bex was the last one left right after Grant dropped out, so she got to finish last much easier than I had it.

I gave Bex a five high. She points a triumphant finger at the once over-cocky boys. I take her side, eager to see her take it out on them.

"That's how girls do it better!" Bex slugs an arm around me for support and then pulls me away to the locker room, leaving Zach and Grant gaping and wondering why their plan went so wrong.

* * *

 **CRITICS ARE WELCOME!**

 **I have a soft spot for FanFics where Cam lives up to her potential and beats Zach, so I just had to do my own and make it realistic and competitive like it should be when it comes to Zach and Cammie. Also, I'm really inconsistent with chapter length, but some scenes just deserve more attention, you know?**


	7. Cammie's Confessions

**I AM SORRY!**

 **Right after I announce my tidy updating routine, I break it! Now that school has started back up, I will not be able to update as frequently. Not going to lie, reading Six of Crows is what's taking up my time. While I do not know what my new updating schedule will be, I do have this chapter, so HAPPY READING!**

* * *

I can be pretty short-sighted. For instance, while I was running, I didn't stop to think how my makeup wasn't water proof. Bex knows I can forget about the little things though and was already touching up my smeared face.

"You're fortunate I have backup brushes," Bex finishes dabbing at my forehead and started packing up. I sling my backpack on and laugh gratefully.

"Let's go," I push open the locker room door and turn down the hall and am immediately given something to groan about. "I have to make it to the other side of the school on these legs- All I want to do is pass out!"

"Sorry, Cam," Bex stays put then turns away. "I have to go the other way."

"Who will carry me if I fall?" I exaggerate and smile, I totally could collapse at any moment.

"I volunteer," Zach leans against the wall, not to look cool but probably just to play off how weak he feels right now too.

"Tell me how that goes!" Bex calls out already leaving me for Grant.

"Come on, Cam, I heard you have places to be," Zach walks off without waiting for me. Once his back is facing me, I have to decide if I want to slip away into a blind spot or chase after him. On one hand, I can go the long way and avoid him, so he doesn't walk me to class. On the other hand, no, there is no positive to being taunted for no reason.

I do what the chameleon in me does best and slip away in the opposite direction, making sure to use counter surveillance to prevent being seen. I have the school down by now (mostly because there was a map with my classes' room numbers on it) and arrive at history earlier than expected.

The sight of guys throwing themselves over the hot girl in the class is so common, it's the first thing I see when I walk in. I would have ignored it like I did every other class, but this was different. The girl wasn't dressed scandalously, she was actually very modest, and the girl seemed painstakingly bored at all the attention.

"Macey!" I walk up to her knowing she would shove aside one of the boys to let me sit down.

"Cammie, I swear you just saved me from inflicting a Herr-Durma on myself," She pushes the boys away from her, they seem offended by her lack of interest but leave nonetheless. "You look awful! What happened in gym?"

"I let her win and she threw a fit," Someone lies. You have got to be kidding me, this is the fourth class I have with Goode. He puts his hands on my desk and smirks at me. "Where did you go?"

"That's a lie and I went to class," I lean back in my seat as he leans forward.

"He said she said," Zach smirks. "I was a little hurt when you ditched me, but I see you couldn't stay away for long."

I would be blushing so hard right now if I wasn't pissed he lied to Macey, not like she would believe him.

"Goode, Leave!" Macey snaps a finger and points away from us. "Cam and I have to talk."

Zach didn't seem flustered by her harshness, yet he puts his hands up in mock surrender, "Okay, I'll keep my distance."

"Thanks," I grab a textbook from my bag and open up to the chapter written on the board under today's agenda.

"Don't play," Macey warns. "You're going to spill what's up with you and Zach. Why are you having such a quick snap back from Josh?"

"Zach and I are just competitive people, it's not like either of us are going after each other," I breath through gritted. The next person that accuses me of pining over a civilian is… well let's just say I cannot guarantee their safety.

"That may be true for your half, but he hasn't stopped staring at you since he got here," Macey points her pencil towards Zach's desk. I don't dare glance at him, if I do he'll catch me and smirk, and every opportunity I give him to smirk is a misfortune.

"We'll talk about it later, I promised Liz I would tell her everything when we were all together," I shut her up. She shrugs and we both start on a worksheet that's on our desks. What's absurd is that the teacher was asleep behind his desk with a travel pillow around his neck. He didn't stir for the rest of class.

Zach tries to walk with me to sixth period, but Macey didn't allow it. She can be scary when she wants to. As much as Zach wanted to mess around, he prioritized his safety, an admirable trait.

"Hot boys are dangerous, Cammie. There all the same, and I don't want you to get hurt," Macey walked me all the way to my computers class to make sure Zach didn't pull a move.

"I can protect myself, but thanks, Macey," I wave her off. I was doing a fantastic job fending for myself, but no one seemed to notice.

The computer room was large, about forty dinosaur desktops stood perched on fake granite tables. The spots were composed in rows of four. It was difficult to see who sat where just by looking over the tops of the computers. Through the maze, my eye landed on the bright pink fuzz in the dead center of it all. Making eye contact, the pink fuzz found me too.

"Cammie, Josh here told me you enrolled!" Deedee waves energetically then pats the table at which she is sitting, which happens to be the same row my two favorite people in Roseville sit at. "You have to sit with Josh, Dillon, and I!"

I don't argue because it's Deedee, and I just can't say no to her.

"No," Dillon kicks the rolling chair I was going to sit in away from me. "She can sit somewhere else."

Honestly, If I didn't know better I would have thought I broke up with him. Despite his attitude, he gave me an excuse to leave their group. Deedee seemed disappointed, she shouldn't be. Anyone can see she's in love with Josh, not just someone who goes through his trash and finds a love letter with her return address.

"No," Josh holds the chair out in front of where it was originally. "Cammie, can sit here."

Josh waits for me to sit, then he pushes it in like were on a formal date. News flash: We're in school. I'm being too harsh, trying to keep my guard up around him was making me into something I'm not. It's unfair, Josh always did deserve better.

"Thank you," I nod to Josh and he gives me a whisp of a smile; a sad smile. Deedee sees it as her place to jump in. Maybe she felt threatened like she did when Josh and I were dating, or she genuinely wanted to be my friend. I'll have to watch her motives continually.

"I am so happy you are here, I can tell we're are going to be best friends," Deedee smiles as she steps on Dillon's foot when he gives me a glare. How did these two polar opposites become best friends?

"We were going to invite you to our table for lunch, but we saw you were getting pretty popular real quick," Dillon tries to growl but it sounds more like a failed hiss.

"She's a likable person, Dillon," Josh argues.

"Tell me why a likable person would dump you and walk away like you meant nothing, tell me," Dillon gets in my face. "I was there, remember?"

"I'll tell you why I did that, Dillon," I shrink instead of standing my ground. "Even though I only owe it to Josh, not you."

Dillon nods his head expectantly while Josh and Deedee lean in to hear me out.

"I was homeschooled because I have horribly strict parents," I begin to weave my tale as truthful and real as the Little Mermaid's. "They didn't allow me to have friends if they weren't approved by their standards, so I never had any, or let me go out unless one of them was with me. I could never join sports or even Girl Scouts for crying out loud!"

Deedee is looking at me like I'm a kicked puppy, but she's the one being conned. Josh is already wrapped around my finger, but Dillon is still reluctant to submit. I guess I'll have to dig a little deeper.

"I live just on the outskirts of town and have never truly seen it, I begged my parents to take me to see other people to see anything, but they would just say it was too dangerous. Of course, this is a sweet All- American town of neighbors who bring you apple pie and parents who let their children run around in the roads not fearing anything. They were so terrified of anything happening to me, they made me take self-defense classes when I became old enough, the drive to the lessons was my only opportunity to see farther than my front yard."

Dillon looked slightly uncomfortable, time to reel it in.

"It got worse when… umm," I pause and look down. I thought I could tell them the small truth of my father's death, but I can't bring myself to it. "Something happened, and my mom became more protective of me. One day I snapped and ran away- I intended to come back, but I still ran. That was the night I met Josh. He wasn't like how my mom describe the other teens in the town. Maybe it was because he was nice or different, call it an act of defiance for all I care, but I started to fall for him."

The last bit was the truth, the only truth I could give them. The three appeared saddened to their core, wondering what happened to me that caused all of the chaos. I pressed on. I would not let this become an issue any longer.

"The time I spent with Josh was the happiest I had been all my life, but it was near impossible to manage. I was able to get away with sneaking out because my mom was becoming so busy, she didn't have time for me. However, things eventually started to settle down, she caught me entering through the back door after an outing with Josh and practically interrogated me. I'm not a good lier, so I confessed everything. She warned me that if I didn't stop seeing you, Josh, she would take away my college fund, any savings I had, and she would disown me. I'm sorry, Josh, but when it came to you or my future, I had to choose my future. I know I hurt you, but I didn't have much of an option. She wouldn't have even let me say good bye, but I risked seeing you one more time. When she found out, she didn't speak to me for a week. Through all of that, Josh, you need to know, that if I could do it again I would."

Deedee had tears in her eyes at my performance, Dillon looked at me as if I were Amish and breaking free of an awful past. Josh looked heartbroken.

"Cammie," Josh took my hands and I ducked my head, keeping up with my character. "We should have never been so quick to judge, I think it's safe to say we all forgive you."

The other two nod, "I never could have known, but now that I do I am so sorry for how I treated you, I was just trying to protect my best friend," Dillon begs.

"I forgive you, I understand what it looked like, and I never had the opportunity to explain until now."

"Why is your mom letting you go to public school now?" Deedee rubs my back, I can't tell her I don't need soothing.

"I think she's sick of me, we still aren't on good relations even though they have gotten markedly better," I sigh, I hate making my mom into some kind of monster. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Can we just do the work?"

I put them in an uncomfortable position, they weren't expecting me to be the broken girl, they we're expecting a target. For not being a good actress, I put on an excellent display. I guess I can manage an award-winning performance in dire situations.

Like the other classes, I'm the first out the door when it's over. I don't wait for Josh, Deedee, or newly discover softy: Dillon. Now that I'm gone they are probably talking about me in hushed tones, like I contracted a deadly disease and was given a life expectancy. I can't wait to find that suspect and leave here with a competed mission, away from the girl I made myself out to be. I am weak and small here. I don't see that changing any time soon.

* * *

 **Poor, tragic Cam. Can Dillon truly be the misguided nice guy he is claiming to be? And how polite of Zach to offer to carry Cammie...**

 **It's fun reading what you guys have to say so leave a review!**


	8. Family Honor

**Not going to lie, I considered just stopping this story. Not because I ran out of ideas and plot, but just because writing it was mildly incontinent to me. Then I thought that would be a pretty mean move to the people who actually enjoyed this story, so I continued. I'm still trying to continue I just need motivation and time. And that is the reason why I haven't updated in over a week. Take this chapter as an apology!**

* * *

When I shuffle into my seventh period, I am confronted by the girls who make me feel the strongest- which is much welcomed considering my last class. My three closest Gallagher Girls pull me into the last spot at their table.

"Cammie, this is so convenient!" Bex gapes at the odds, tipping the legs of her chair back.

"Well, Cam," Macey leans into my side. "You were saying something about spilling every detail of your existence when we were all together…"

"Oh, don't be so daft, Macey," Liz saves me from her inquiry. "She only promised every nook and cranny of her life involving Josh, specifically of the events pertaining to today."

"Yep! That!" The legs of Bex's chair slam on the ground and flings her arms forward to stop her head slamming on the table. She plays it off nonchalantly.

"See the thing," My voice raises an octave. "I think it would be better if-"

"I will not be," Mrs. Torres, I assume, slams four textbooks onto our desk. "Like your other teachers, Ladies. I, unlike my peers, value my work, as well as value your success. There will be no gossiping while you are here, and do not think I will let anything slide because it is the last period of the day. You are here to learn Spanish and nothing else."

"Good to know," A scrawny, hollow looking boy mutters under his breath. The people around him snicker.

"To the dean, Mr. Hurtz," Mrs. Torres points to the door. "Don't forget this is your second year repeating this class- which I didn't know was possible for an elective."

The rest of the class snickers now. Hurtz pushes himself out of his seat and heads to the door. If I knew him any better, I would say that was his intention when he sassed her. Liz must think the same because she's taken aback by his willingness to leave, Macey on the other hand looks all too willing to do the leaving. Bex is trying her hardest not to make a scene, she settles on making strong eye contact with me.

"Brandon Hurtz," I whisper across the desk so that Bex can only here, besides Macey and Liz of course. Bex nods curtly then shakes her head at the other two who give us their puzzled looks. Putting two and two together, if that boy was Brandon Hurtz, the one the girls from gym talked about, he most likely did want to go to the dean's office.

"Let's start on your first lesson of the year: The alphabet," has a large pointer in her hand as she stands under the Spanish alphabet banner pinned to the the wall. Each letter is represented by an object, like always a xylophone is next to x. Classic.

Mrs. Torres claims the alphabet to be a lesson, and she spends a great deal of time on it, so I can sympathize, but to the four of us who speak Spanish as well as someone from Barcelona, it is closer to a bedtime story- a awfully dull bedtime story. Instead of paying attention, I search the class, now that Hurtz is gone, there is no one out of the ordinary (minus the one obvious Spanish speaker put in the class because it is required). Of all my classes, this is most likely going to cause me the most migraines. The four of us can't talk in Spanish because it would draw attention to ourselves, and we have to listen to everyone's attempts at conversing with simple sentences (honestly, no one is going to take you seriously with that pronunciation, Amanda!).

The four of us find ourselves in the pick-up line out front when the last bell finally echoes through the halls.

"How'd y'alls day go?" Liz askes as we stand in a semi- circle facing the cars, waiting to be taken back to our true school.

"Nothing exciting," Macey answers back in code. To anyone else, our conversation is one of pleasantries, but to us it is a vital exchange of information.

"Cammie and I met this really funny guy- you've probably seen him," Bex comments, alluding to the guy in our Spanish.

"You guys should so come over later to my mom's so we can talk about all of the boys! She'll make snacks, she's nice like that," I laugh at the thought of my friends eating my mom's cooking, they find it equally hilarious. Beyond that, I essentially told them we have enough info to take back to my mom.

"I thought you said your mom was a witch," Dillon steps into our gathering and balls his fist. "You don't want to be caught lying again, Morgan."

I stumble back, surprised I hadn't noticed him before it was too late. I can't do much of anything in my defense either because when I spun those lies to Dillon earlier, I did paint my family, specifically my mother, as the villain. And here I go saying she's nice and cooks.

Note to self: Never let your guard down too early.

"Well… In a way-" I stamper, Dillon doesn't have any of it.

"Your parents probably give you everything, so you thought you can walk all over everyone else. That's why you hurt josh!" Dillon's knuckles are white in his embrace. "Just because daddy treats you like a princess doesn't mean the rest of us are your servants."

The shock of his statement rolls over me in waves, tears break to the surface of my eyes. The girls put their arms around my shoulders. Through the crowd that has gathered around the two of us, Zach pushes his way to the front, quickly followed by Grant. Perfect, of course he wouldn't take the bus. Of course he would be here. If I don't calm Dillon down now, he's going to explode and Zach is going to make it his mission to save me. I swallow my sorrow.

"Maybe once upon a time, but daddy's dead now," I burn my gaze into Dillon, willing him to shrink under my shear rage. The people around us gasp, I think they forgot about going home entirely, they don't seem to want to go anywhere when the drama here is just starting to ripen.

"I'm-," Dillon wants to apologize, I can tell, but her refrains. His anger comes back, and he becomes just as unstable as before. "You deserve it, you're such a compulsive liar- He probably deserved it!"

The crowd might have been on his side before, but now they look at him in disgust. Kick a puppy while you're at it, Dillon. He didn't have to be the bad guy, but he chose to. I don't feel the sadness of my loss anymore, I don't feel like crawling up in a ball and sobbing till I'm dry out of tears, I feel like revenge.

"Zach help her," Grants nudges Zach's shoulder.

Zach nods his head at me when he meets my eyes, "I think she can handle herself."

That's as much as a go ahead as any, and Dillon is asking for it with his vulgar remarks and fighting stance. My fist flies before I tell it to. The crack of bone on bone should hurt, but it brings me release. This has got to be one of my more artful blows: placed forcefully on his jaw with a right hook for maximum pain. Beautiful.

Dillon's jaw makes a sickening snap, and I swear it dislocates. He crumbles to the ground like a baby. The people around me laugh, maybe they didn't like Dillon to begin with. The girls look at me in horror; punching a civilian might be worse than dating one come to think of it, but I couldn't care less. Grant takes a step back from me, but Zach stays close and opens his mouth to most likely congratulate me. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to recognize my victory.

"Oh, look," I point to where my mom sits in the car, next in line. I hop over Dillon's slumped body. "There's my ride."

When I buckle my seat belt mom pulls away, "It's going to take quite a bit of coercing to not get you kicked out after that scene. Cam, honey, what were you thinking? Others got you on video."

I look down at my fist in shame, but utterly content with myself. My knuckles are split, the blood trickles in rivulets down my fingers.

"I didn't start it. I only finished it," I run my thumb over the cracks where the dark liquid settled into the creases of my hand. "For dad."

* * *

 **Oh, you thought Dillon changed? For the better? That's cute.**


	9. A Goode Start

**My apologies for taking so long to update. I dedicated this past month to reading. In the month of January, I have read 11 300+ page books. Books I caught up on some popular reads like Six of Crows and The Hate U Give. Anyway, I should let you know that next month I will prioritize writing over reading, but there will still be a balance.**

* * *

We had to circle the city three times before we could finally enter Gallagher (protocol isn't laxed). My fist throbbed dully the whole time as my mother scolded me not to use my skills against a civilian. To which I argued that I did not use my skills, I just used a good old-fashioned punch. Thankfully for Dillon- there's a difference.

Bex, Macey, Liz, and I gathered in my mom's office. To explain myself or to relay info of the day, I don't know. Mr. Solomon is staring out the window as we step over the threshold.

"Ladies, take a seat," My mother sits in her plush chair and fans her hands out on her desk. I sit directly in front of her on the loveseat with Macey and Liz. "Tell me, how was your day?"

"Good, Mrs. Morgan," Liz chirps. "It was terribly easy though, I can't wait to start the work assigned here."

"I don't think that was what she was asking," Macey leans against the couch's shoulder.

"Her question didn't leave that much ambiguity, I don't understand," Liz puzzles and her eyes become frantic as she searches for the intended point my mom was trying to get across.

"Our lifestyle is ambiguity, Liz," Bex settles then continues point blanc, "We heard a rumor."

"Rumors are smoke and mirrors, ladies. We need something tangible," Mr. Solomon scolds.

"We have a name: Brandon Hurtz. A couple people say he has a group and there constantly getting in trouble and in the dean and the principle's office. Some people called him a druggy. I have to admit, he looks like one too," I explain. My mom and Mr. Solomon make shifty eye contact.

"You've seen him?" Mom raises her eye brows.

"He's in our Spanish class- well he was for a minute. The teacher through him out after he said something snarky. He went to the deans," Liz answers.

"It sounds like he's just another rebellious teenager, not someone dangerous," Solomon crosses his arms and leans back on the window sill. His eyes are disappointed.

"We heard he also tried to steal the principle's laptop," Bex attempts to give them something of value.

"He could have been after important info," I aid. I just want us to have something successful to bring to the table.

"Or it could just be consistent with his rebellious character," Mom counters. "Either way, keep an eye on him." We all nod in return. "Is that all?"

I look back and forth on the couch, silently asking the other if they were privy to something else. It doesn't seem like it. The fruits of our labor today barely produce a rumor. A rumor of an untamable teenager, which is worthless when talking about high schoolers.

"That's a good start," Mr. Solomon pushes himself towards us. That's the best compliment he might ever give. "But I taught you better than to just settle on good. What were the teachers like? Who did who associate with? Who sulked in the shadows? And who seemed above average?"

Our good start wasn't good enough. Now he's got me thinking. Only two of my teachers were really awake or present in the class. From what I could gather the typical cliques were all there, thriving yet expectedly normal. The Emos sulked, but that's what they always did before, so what's new? Who stood out? What do I have that's better than just good? Good…

"Goode!" I clap my hands together in a wide ark, almost knocking out Liz. The revelation I stumbled upon is so painfully obvious, we all should have noticed it earlier! It's not what's new, it's about who's new. And who I'm thinking about certainly stood out- not just because of his bright eyes.

"Care to elaborate?" Macey is still holding Liz from when she pulled her away from my flailing.

"Everyone can be normal or at least pretend, but people will still be out of place," I smile waiting for it to hit the others like it did to me. They will be beyond mad at themselves when they follow my train of thought.

"Well that is the point, Cam, honey," My mom sighs. "So, who stuck out like the sore thumb on your punching hand?"

Bex snickers. I glare at her and almost call her out using her full name, but that would cause some more unwelcomed soreness, so I refrain.

"To put it simply," I stir the anticipation among them. "Us."

The look of pure concern flashes across my mom and Mr. Solomons' faces. So I may have made it seem like we blew our cover, but I deserve a little entertainment before I give them intel.

"Cam, I mean no offense at all when I say this," Liz soothes. "But you always had trouble sticking out. I can assure you that even when you blew up today with Dillon, you were still blending in with everyone else. What makes you think others will be suspicious of us?"

"First off, thank you. Second, I don't mean us per say, I mean qualities about us. Including Tina and the others, ten of us show up at Roseville High, a school that doesn't get many new people. Not only do we flood in all at once, but we are also highly intellectually superior to the normal masses that surround us there. We are also far more physically capable. No one should have been able to be on our level, but there were people- three in particular!" The roll I'm on makes me feel proud and played. "Who are the three that share those aspects?"

"No, there just the football jock type!" Bex grips her seats armrests, experiencing what I had a moment ago. Mom and Mr. Solomon don't appear amused by our antics. I can see they're about to press for a really answer, but they're stopped short.

"Not all of them. Jonas is exactly like me. If Cammie is right, I could mean that in almost every way possible," Liz nods to my mom, acknowledging she spoke out of place.

"We need names with reasons, ladies," Solomon emits the vibe of hostility and impatience, but the pleased look in his eye tells me he's getting more than he expected from us. Now I just need to decide if that is demeaning or complimenting to me.

"Zachary Goode: highly intelligent, practically my equal. He is also highly competitive with skills well above even the best athlete at that school. We took a stamina and speed test and we were the only two to remain on top. Normally I would leave it at classifying him as athletic, but it's also his first year at the school, coming from who knows where. He's exactly like me! And I'm not normal. I bet if we search into his background we'll find something, and if we can't it he'll be even more suspicious!"

Mom gloats, deciding she'll pride herself on my ability to essentially find myself in other people.

"It's worth a look. What are the other boys' names? I'll run a search on them too," Mom pushes up the monitor to her laptop on the desk in front of her.

"Grant, but I don't have a last name to give you," Bex looks at us for conformation and assistance we don't have.

"The sooner you find out, the sooner we can narrow down our search. Elizabeth, did you mention a Jonas?" Mom's soft pads of her fingertips type in her beyond paranoid, long password.

"Jonas Anderson, and he's not like the others, ma'am. He mentioned he lived here for a while, I think, plus he's not coordinated- if you will. If he is somehow related to the others, it's by his brains, not his brute strength," Liz rambles, trying in vain to prove his innocence.

"We will keep that in mind. You did well girls, now from my understanding you are behind in the school work truly fit for you. You are excused," Mr. Solomon ushers us out the door, notably rushed to get to the bottom of our speculation.

"Excellent job, girls. We'll have to talk more in the morning," My mom smiles from her seat and watches us leave. Once the door is closed, we all start walking to our suite, ready to retire from today.

"No matter how much it makes sense for everything to point to them, what you're saying, Cam, is pure speculation," Macey reminds me.

"I know it's a stretch, but it's a good one, right?" I ask the others.

"In theory, but I sure hope you're wrong," Liz shakes her head.

"Let someone else have the breakthrough this time, Liz," Bex guffaws.

"It's not jealousy," Liz is taken aback by the insinuation. "We can marvel in Cam's good work, but if it holds any weight, it means those boys that we all seem so infatuated with are enemy agents."

Oh. That not what a girl with a crush wants to hear. I'm totally not that girl though.

While Bex and I are certainly dismayed by this new reality, Macey in a wicked sense appears to find joy in this.

"Ha! You were fraternizing with the enemy! The CIA had to tell you to not form relations with civilians, but enemy spies! I thought that went without saying," Macey doubles over onto our door, putting her key in the lock. "And you, Bex, you just had to fall for the boy that wants to doom all those poor souls, god knows in what way!"

"I'm too graceful to fall," Bex chides. "And Cam isn't exactly fraternizing with the enemy, the enemy is fraternizing with her. One question to add on to our ever-growing pile now is why?"

"I have a computer and we have two names, let's see where my skills get us," Liz plops herself onto her bed along with her laptop. The rest of us set up shop in our respected corners.

All of Zach's behaviors from today now make sense. This prompts other questions to swirl around like water cyclones in my head. Does he know that I'm not who I say I am? What would he do if he ever found out?

* * *

 **Just a tip if you are enjoying the story: I tend to be motivated to update by reviews! Seeing that people get something out of my story encourages me to put more effort into my work and to be more consistent. That being said, thank you to everyone that does leave a review, no matter how small you think it is, it means a lot.**


End file.
